Email phishing scam hijacks BBB name, againPosted: August 22, 2012

A new scam using the Better Business Bureau (BBB) name popped up this morning (August 21), and has been received by consumers and businesses across the U.S. and Canada…including many BBB offices.

This is a phishing email that has a dangerous hyperlink contained within the email.

Legitimate complaints from the Better Business Bureau of Mainland BC will have local contacts from our BBB in British Columbia.

You will see in the email signature a BBB employee name along with an email with [email protected]. There is a 604 phone number in the email. Additionally, the complaint link that appears to be that of BBB in New York. However, if you hover your mouse over the web address (the part that begins with http), you can see that the real address is not BBB at all. DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK! The link actually takes you to a rogue website that downloads a Trojan virus on your computer. For the latest updates visit our scam email page on the BBB website: www.mbc.bbb.org

BBB is working with a professional deactivation service to take down the websites that are spreading the malware, and we have reported the incident to the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. Consumers are urged to delete suspicious emails and keep their anti-virus software up-to-date at all times.

Should you receive such an email do the following:

1. Disregard its message.

2. Report the email by forwarding it to [email protected]. In some cases you may get a bounceback message when forwarding to this email. Please disregard the bounceback email as all emails are being received.

3. Delete the email after forwarding.

4. Due to the virulent nature of the email run a virus scan if you have clicked on the link within the email.